Niñita, Niñito
by MaverickLover2
Summary: She was a complete surprise. The story of the birth of the Maverick's youngest daughter – Lily Elizabeth. But she wasn't the only surprise that waited for them. And they almost lost his momma.
1. The Unexpected

Chapter 1 – The Unexpected

Lily Elizabeth was a total and complete surprise. The Maverick family already consisted of four children, twin girls Maude and Isabelle and sons Beauregard and Breton. To be honest, the last thing on anyone's mind was another baby. There were too many unexpected things happening in our lives all at the same time.

If that sounds confusing to you, don't feel like you're the only one bewildered. I'm their father, and I'm not sure I know what's goin' on half the time. Jess Kincaid and his outlaw gang had ridden into our town, Little Bend, Texas, and decided the man that "owned" Maude's saloon was wealthy and wouldn't mind parting with some of that wealth. There's two problems with those assumptions: I don't own Maude's, I just manage it, and everything that me and my wife possess had been gotten through long hours of hard work. And I particularly objected to having my five-year-old son kidnapped.

Near as her momma and me can figure it, Doralice must have been about three months pregnant with Little Bit before either one of us suspected anything. Normally Doralice can't stand the smell or taste of coffee when she's with child, but that never seemed to bother her this time. She told me she sensed something off, but with the stress of our son's kidnapping and three other small children to take care of, not to mention a business to run and a ranch under construction, another baby just didn't cross our minds.

One morning we were tryin' to get the kids dressed and everyone fed when Doralice looked at me and turned about three shades of green. She ran for the chamber pot and I followed her; our housekeeper and friend Lily Mae took over the baby wrangling duties. I rubbed my wife's back while she left little doubt in our minds as to the cause of the illness. "Oh, my," was all Doralice could say when she was finished.

"How did we miss this one?" I asked her, as if she had an answer.

She shook her head in dismay. "I don't know. I've been drinkin' coffee this whole time and it hasn't bothered me a bit." She paused to catch her breath and stood up straight. "That sure does explain a lot."

"I'll go fetch Simon." Simon Petry was the town doctor and an old friend.

I'd started for the door when she caught my arm and stopped me. "No reason to do that. There'll be plenty of time to see the doctor once we get Beauregard back."

Of course, she was right. We did get Beauregard home safe and sound, and my brother Bret and Sheriff Dave Parker rounded up what was left of the Kincaid gang and hauled them off to jail. I had been wounded during the rescue attempt, and Simon figured it was easier for him to come to the house than the other way around. Once he'd cleaned up the damage done by Kincaid's bullet he turned his medical attention to my wife.

I had the strangest feeling while Simon examined Doralice, and I couldn't shake it for the life of me. When an hour passed and they were still ensconced in the bedroom, I started to worry. When the door finally opened, I saw the look on Simon's face and was sure there was something besides good news coming.

Doralice joined me on the settee and Simon took the chair across from us. I wouldn't say he was worried, exactly, just concerned more than anything. "Alright, Simon, let's hear it," I urged him.

"It appears, and you'll notice I say appears, that Baby Maverick is breech – what they call upside down. He or she wants to come out a different way. That's not unusual, and most babies get turned around in plenty of time to be born."

Doralice looked over at me and smiled. Somehow that didn't make me feel any better. "What else, Simon? I know there's a 'what else.'"

Simon kind of fidgeted, which was rather unusual for him. "I can't be sure when the baby's due. Best guess is sometime in March, but that's just a guess. If it's earlier than that, we could have a small baby."

Small babies don't run in the Maverick family, so I wondered just what it was that Simon wasn't saying. He didn't stay much longer and I waited to see if there was any further warning or something to watch out for. Simon left without another word, so I wondered if he'd imparted any wisdom to Doralice. He hadn't, and I had no idea just what it was that was bothering me.

I had to say, we'd been awful lucky in the baby department. The twins were an unexpected surprise, and were born with no trouble to speak of. Beauregard caused some problems in the gettin' ready to get born department, but once he decided to make his entrance, everything went smoothly. Breton didn't cause any trouble, and I was worried about the way Simon had acted that number five was going to make up for it.

Things slowly settled down, and Doralice didn't seem to have any more trouble. Simon was mildly concerned because the baby hadn't turned, but everything else appeared to be progressing as expected. We went on with our lives, and I did my best to forget about problems that hadn't yet happened. There was too much else going on that needed my immediate attention.


	2. Accidental Theft

Chapter 2 – Accidental Theft

After we got Beauregard back from what was left of the Kincaid gang, life was busy but nothing unusual. Pauly Wilcox, me and Bret were trying to get the ranch constructed and built at the same time that we were starting the cross-breeding business. Doralice continued working at the saloon, with plans to quit after number five was born. It was easy to forget there was another baby on the way; blue-eyes was so small that most people didn't know she was expecting.

At the far end of town, way out past the spot where the old Congregational Church used to stand, there was a Cherokee Village. It consisted of exactly three little houses and had been there since I was a boy. The families had a small plot of ground they farmed, and the young boys were mostly stable hands; the girls worked as cooks. There was a girl in my class named Woya, and another girl in Maudie's class by the name of Nan-Ye-Hi. Everyone used the last name of Henderson.

Maudie had gotten to be friends with Nan-Ye-Hi, and the girls had even done some sleep-overs. When they stayed at our house they slept in the bedroom; when they were at Nan's they slept on the ground. Nan-Ye-Hi was a sweet little thing, spoke perfect English and was about half the size of Maudie, who was tall and willowy, just like I was at the same age. I never heard them raise their voices to one another, maybe because they didn't get to spend much time together, and what they had was precious.

Anyway, both girls had been asking to spend the night at the Henderson house for some time and I had been making them wait. Finally, things slowed down somewhat, and I had no good reason to put them off any longer, so Maudie went home with Nan after school on Friday night. I agreed to pick her up on Saturday afternoon; Doralice had some shopping she wanted to do at the Emporium and I figured we'd drop by and retrieve our oldest daughter then. The idea of my wife staying home never crossed my mind or hers; the baby wasn't due for at least another four weeks and there'd been no sign that anything was happening before it was supposed to.

We took the wagon over to the Emporium and did Doralice's shopping, then headed out towards the Henderson camp. It was late in the afternoon when we got to the Village, and everything seemed awfully quiet. We were soon to find out why.

The only one home was Grandma, and she was, to say the least, distraught. Two Comanche Braves had raided the Village earlier in the day and stolen Nan-Ye-Hi and her younger sister Sallali to be their 'wives.' It didn't matter that the girls were six and seven; the Comanche's were willing to wait. What they didn't know was . . . they'd inadvertently taken our girl with them.

The three girls were playing some kind of game that involved hiding in the rugs Grandma wove, and Maudie was wrapped up in a rug just like Nan. When the Comanche's stole the Cherokee sisters, they got an unexpected gift. All of the Cherokee boys had left the Village in a frantic effort to recover their sisters and guest.

"How long ago?" I asked Grandma.

"Sun high up in sky," she answered.

I jumped in the wagon and told Doralice, "They've got about three hours on us. Hang on." And we set out at breakneck speed in a futile attempt to retrieve the missing twin.

I practically drove the horses into the ground. I couldn't think of anything but our seven-year-old-daughter held captive until she was old enough to be taken as a squaw by the Comanche's. Hell, for all I knew there was nothing stopping them from doing it now. The Comanche's were well known for turning captives into slaves, and I could just imagine what a prize that long, golden hair would be for a young brave.

Doralice had a death grip on my arm and wasn't about to let go. I assumed it was to keep from sliding all over the seat; it was only later that I found out there was another reason. There were two things in our favor . . . I knew exactly where the Comanche's were headed, and we had better horses.

It was almost dark by the time we got to the Comanche camp. There was no sign of the Cherokee braves, but I did manage to locate their ponies. Doralice started to whisper something, and I put my fingers to my lips to quiet her down. There was one tiny shack off to the side with a young brave sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of it; that was where they had the girls, I surmised. The lean-to wasn't built nearly as well as the other buildings in camp; it appeared it had been put together in a hurry. The shack was poorly constructed of small tree branches and held together by what looked like dried mud; there was already a piece of the wall missing where someone had been trying to push through the corner of it. I clapped my hand over Doralice's mouth to stop her from screaming and crept out of the wagon. Fortunately, it was just dark enough that with me in my favorite color clothes I couldn't be seen.

I'd pulled the wagon as far away as I could, found my knife in my boot, and snuck up on the backside of the shack. I was lucky that two of the Cherokee Braves appeared and started a commotion just as I got to the lean-to. I stuck the knife in the already crumbling corner and pulled a large chunk of the wall away. It was so loud out in front of the shack that no one heard the noise I made. There was no sign of Nan-Ye-Hi or Sallali; I stashed the knife in my belt, grabbed my oldest daughter and pulled her through the opening, then ran like hell for our wagon.

There was no time to be gentle or delicate; I flung Maudie into Doralice's lap, scrambled back into the wagon and laid the whip down on the horses. And we never stopped to look back.

When we got far enough away from the camp, I could hear Maudie crying softly. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and comfort her, but our very lives depended on getting out of hostile territory as fast as possible. The horses ran as far as I would push them, and it was almost an hour later before I felt safe enough to find a momentary hiding spot deep in the forest. That's when I realized it was Doralice crying. "Maudie?" I whispered, and she looked up at me with immense relief in her eyes. "What happened to Nan and her sister?"

"I don't know, Daddy. When I looked for them, they were gone."

That's when I reached over to my wife's chin and lifted her head. There were tears in her eyes, as well as a kind of pain I'd never seen before. "What's wrong?"

"Baby . . . hasn't turned," she gasped out.

"You've got time, Doralice. She's not due for another four weeks."

She shook her head violently. "NO, baby's coming NOW."

"NOW, DADDY?" Maudie asked in a panic.

I thought back to the old days when the sight of blood was enough to knock me out cold. No such escape for me now; my child was about to be born. And she was facing the wrong way.

"You ready?" I asked Doralice, and she nodded. We got her into the correct position in the wagon and began manually attempting to force the baby to turn. We must have worked for almost an hour before we started to make progress. Doralice looked and acted downright uncomfortable, but when the first part of our newborn appeared it was full of golden hair. Once she was out, I cut the cord with my knife and wrapped her in the rug Maudie had made her escape in. She was a little bitty thing, hence the name Lily Beth. And I didn't like the way she looked, or the lack of response from either of them.

I took the baby from Doralice and handed her to Maudie, then made one more run for Little Bend and safety. Straight to Simon Petry's office, where there was gonna be a whole lotta prayin' goin' on.


	3. Cutting the Cord

Chapter 3 – Cutting the Cord

Simon's office was full of Mavericks. He'd quickly examined Maudie and pronounced her fit, then turned his attention to Momma and child. "Where did you have her?"

"Right in the wagon," Doralice told him, as I gave him a quick run-down of why we were fleeing the Comanche in the middle of the night.

Simon turned to me and asked for something I never expected. "Still got the knife? Can I see it?" I nodded and pulled the knife out of my belt, then handed it over to him. "You cut the cord?"

I nodded again and waited. Even in a serious moment like this, I knew Simon had to get his good-natured harassment in. "And this is the same man that used to pass out at the sight of blood?"

"Only when it was mine," I reminded him.

"Alright, take Maudie out and get her something to eat. Don't come back for at least thirty minutes, and bring your father with you. I need private time with these two ladies."

I bent over and kissed our newborn on the forehead, then did almost the same to Doralice. "Good work, beautiful," I told her before squeezing her hand and putting my arm around Maudie. I guided our oldest out the door and up the street to Sawyers, where I asked Sawyer herself if she would go get Pappy and bring him back. I drank coffee and Maudie tea while we waited, and in just a few minutes my father came bursting through the front door, Sawyer trailing him like a puppy.

"What in God's name . . . Maudie, honey, come over here to Paw Paw and tell me what happened."

Maude did as requested and sat in Pappy's lap while she told him the tale of the night before, up until my slitting open the back of the tipi. That's when I took over and got us here to Sawyers. "She's beautiful, Pa, but she's the tiniest thing you ever saw."

"How's Doralice?"

"Good, so far. Simon sent us out so he could do his exams. Let's get this one fed and then I want to talk to Parker about the kidnappings." I didn't figure there was much the sheriff could do, but I thought I'd check anyway. When breakfast was over I sent Maudie home with Pappy and crossed the street to the sheriff's office. Dave, as I suspected, had already heard, and wanted to know how we were. "Does that mean there's nothing you can do?"

"About Nan and her sister? Nope, not a thing. It's up to the Indian agent. I have to stay out of it."

"What if they still had Maudie?"

"That's different. The point is, they don't."

"But Dave . . ."

"Forget it, Bart. Go back to Doralice and the baby. By the way, boy or girl?"

"Girl, little tiny thing. Alright, I'll be at Simon's with my girls. You let me know if you need anything from me, okay?"

I hurried back to Simon's and found Pappy and Simon sitting in the office drinking coffee and whispering. "How are they?" I asked as soon as I saw the look on the doctor's face.

"Asleep. They both need the rest. What Doralice went through wasn't easy; the two of you did a great job in difficult circumstances."

"You look concerned. What's up?"

Simon hesitated a minute before answering. "I'm worried about an infection in the baby. We need every bit of luck we can get. I'd like you to leave them here where I can keep an eye on them for a day or two."

"Are you gonna stay with them?" I already knew the answer to that question before Simon had a chance to answer it.

"Uh-huh."

"Alright. Then I'll be here, too. Pappy?"

He nodded and finished his coffee. "Yep. Lily Mae and Maude are with the kids. They're well taken care of. Maude'll be by a little later to see everyone, and Maudie insists on coming back."

I sat down next to Pappy but directed my question to Simon. "How is Maudie? She had quite an ordeal yesterday."

"Physically, she's fine. I'm not sure a seven-year-old should ever help deliver a baby, especially her sister, but she seems to have come through it just fine. From what she says about the Comanche's, it's a good thing you got there and got her out when you did."

"Do you think they . . . " I started to ask, but Simon stopped me.

"No. And I don't think they were going to. But I think they were gonna trade her to one of the other tribes, and she could have been lost forever."

The front door opened and Simon went to retrieve a patient. Only it wasn't a patient, it was my mother-in-law. They went straight back to the exam room, and I followed them. Doralice was awake, and she had the baby.

"My God, she's tiny! How are they, Simon?" And the two of them moved away from the bed and out of earshot. I turned to Pappy.

"They look good," he remarked.

"There's something he's worried about."

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"First of all, he asked to see the knife I used to cut the cord. Second, he's stayin' with 'em tonight. That's unusual by itself. Third, he's not tellin' us we have to go home."

"You've known Simon a long time, haven't you?"

"Yep, Pa. That's why I'm stayin' here tonight, too."

"He already said he was worried about an infection, Bartley."

"Yes, he did. But he didn't say why."

"And you suspect . . . ?"

"The knife. But there's somethin' else."

"What?"

I wished I had an answer for him. But I didn't. "I don't know. But I'll find out."

Maude came out of the exam room with a big smile on her face. "I'm going back to the house to get Maudie. Is there anything you want?"

"For them to be alright." There was nothing else that was important to me right now.

Maude winked at me. "I'll see what I can do."

1


	4. Waiting

Chapter 4 – Waiting

Two days later Simon was willing to send Doralice home, but not Lily Beth. Yes, we'd gone ahead and named her, just like we were going to. Lily Elizabeth. It still didn't seem like there was anything to worry about, but Simon wasn't taking any chances. Which meant that Doralice and me were there for the long haul, too.

We traded off being there. I'd sit with Lily for four or five hours, then Doralice would come and take my place. Simon was still tight-mouthed about whatever was worrying him, but his mood seemed to be a little lighter.

The third night Simon sent both of us home. "You need some sleep, at the same time, in a bed," was his pronouncement. "I'll be here, and if anything develops I'll send for you."

It was a little past sunup when I woke up, with Doralice in my arms and Maudie in bed with us. And someone pounding at the front door. It was Dave Parker; Simon had sent him for us. "She spiked a fever," Dave told us. "Simon wants you to come back."

I woke Doralice, who in turn woke Lily Mae, and I carried Maudie to her bed while Doralice got dressed. In ten minutes we were at Simon's office. "What's happened?"

"She's developed a fever, and nothing I do affects it any. I wanted to talk to you about your aspirin allergy."

"What about it?" Doralice was by my side, with that death grip she had on my arm again.

"Did you always have it, or did it develop when you got older?"

"I didn't have it when I was a kid. So I must have developed it later. Why?"

"Because if something doesn't stop this fever, I want to try to give her a small dose of aspirin."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Doralice asked.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"On whether it works or not."

XXXXXXXX

We stayed there with her all day, the fever moving up slowly but surely. By two o'clock it was almost one hundred four, and I could tell that Simon was just about at the end of his rope. He came in to see us in the exam room and looked like he hadn't slept in days. Of course, he probably hadn't.

"Is it time?" I asked him.

"I think so. It's been going up all day, and I'm beyond concerned. I'd like to try just about one-quarter normal dose and see what happens. Do I have your permission?"

"Go ahead," I told him.

"Doralice?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

Back to our favorite occupation . . . a lot of waiting. Three o'clock came and went, then four, and sometime during the afternoon I fell asleep. Simon woke me at six. Doralice had gone home to fix dinner, and it seemed like a good idea to try another one-quarter dose. The fever had risen to just a bit over one-hundred four and stopped. Simon took this as a good sign and measured out another quarter dose, and we watched with bated breath. The minutes passed and we waited; no progress one way or the other. The aspirin seemed to be in a stand-off with the fever, with neither winning.

Doralice came back to the office and brought a plate full of food with her; I had no interest in it, so I passed it along to Simon. When he was done eating he checked again, and the fever had gone down about half a degree. It was almost ten o'clock before there was any further change.

Simon was getting ready to do another check when Maude came in with Maudie. Our oldest daughter went straight to the exam room to see how our youngest daughter was doing, and within five minutes there was loud yelp when Simon turned to Maudie with a big smile on his face and said, "One hundred three. It's working!"

In a matter of seconds I had armfuls of wife and daughter, and I'd be hard pressed to tell you who was laughing and who was crying. Even Simon joined in the group embrace. It took us a while to calm down, but by midnight her fever had dropped another degree.

Almost three days later, Simon let Lily Beth come home. Her fever was almost completely gone, and she did more than sleep. We held a big party to welcome the newest member of the family, and naturally assumed we were finished producing babies. And we were, for almost four years.


	5. LIttle Boy Prologue

Niñito

Prologue

Time passed, the way it always does, and the twins were just about to turn eleven. I couldn't begin to imagine that Doralice and me had been married that long, but there was no denying the fact of the matter. Lily Beth, our miracle baby, was almost four, and we were confident we'd finished populating our portion of the Maverick ranch. God, I'm sure, was laughing at us.

One Saturday morning I'd promised to take Doralice into town for supplies that she and Pauly wanted for their newest invention. She's been talking non-stop since we got in the buggy and I was half-listening, the way I usually did when she suddenly grabbed my arm. "Pull over," she practically hissed at me, and as soon as I did so she bolted from her seat and hit the ground, leaving her breakfast in her wake. I wrapped the reins and followed her down, trying to keep her from landing in the dirt. I pulled out my handkerchief and wiped her mouth when she was finished, and we both got that look in our eye.

"I can't be. I'm too old to be. I thought we were finished a long time ago," my beautiful blonde wailed.

Don't get me wrong. Even though the love of my life sounded as if she was desperately unhappy, I'd seen the look she got every time she laid eyes on a new baby. Me, I was happy as a pig in slop. Of course, I wasn't the one having them, and somewhere along the way I seemed to have mastered the art of smiling and cooing at me, rather than screaming and yelling. But I was careful with my reaction. "Honey, just think about how sad you were when you realized that Lily Beth was our last little Maverick. Now you don't have to be sad anymore."

"I'll remind you of that when the whole house is awake at three o'clock in the morning because someone is hungry."

I stroked her hair and held her close. "You know I'd feed them if I could." I pulled her to her feet and helped her back into the buggy. "Good thing Lily Beth's ready to move out of her crib."

"We need another nursery."

"Oh. Yeah. I'll leave that up to Pauly." I must have read her mind. "I guess we better see Doc, huh?"

She smiled, and I knew she wasn't too upset. "Think he'll tell us what's causin' 'em?"

"We'd best know by now." And we both laughed as we drove on into Little Bend. "Let's keep this one to ourselves for a while."

"Boy or girl?"

I had to think about that one. "You know I'm partial to girls. But as long as they're healthy . . ." Like I said before, I'm sure God was laughing at us.


	6. Mind Slippage

Chapter 1 – Mind Slippage

After the Baton Rouge Mavericks returned home from their month in Texas, Beau kept me apprised of the happenings at his house. Things seemed to improve for a while, but eventually they came to a head and we all knew that there was change comin' in the household. Uncle Ben had decided that he wanted what Pappy had finally gotten . . . a good, loving woman that would stand by his side and keep him company. And by gosh if he didn't go out and find him one. Or rather, Dani found him one, right under his very nose. In just a few short months we would come to know and love Ellie Harris in the flesh, but for now she was just a name on a piece of paper. That's when the trouble began.

The biggest problem, one that had remained quietly hidden for years, was the fact that Uncle Ben, like Pappy, had been a professional poker player for most of his life. This seemed to be perfectly fine until Ben began to be known at church and in the community at large, and some of the old women objected. Not to Ellie. Goodness knows, Ellis was perfectly respectable. She was a widow from Houston who'd been hired to be the new schoolteacher, a job she loved. No, the problem was Ben. As long as he kept his nose down and didn't want to have a life, things were just fine. Once he began seeing the new schoolmarm, however, he was no longer acceptable in Baton Rouge 'society.' He was, after all, a gambler. He'd been retired for almost ten years, but that didn't matter. The school board passed a new rule, something regarding 'unsavory characters,' and Ellie was told it was either Ben or the job.

This is where the Mavericks stepped in and complained. Ben and Ellie had gotten to be more than just acquaintances, and neither of them cared for being told how to live their lives. So they retained counsel (Beau's next-door-neighbor, Russ Meyers) and sued the board. Ellie had a written contract, and the bottom line is the case was decided in their favor.

This wasn't all that was happening in Baton Rouge, however. Beau had spent some time talking with me while they were in Little Bend and subsequently decided that he'd been unhappy being a land broker for too long and he bought and remodeled a saloon. And, after almost sixteen years of marriage, Dani discovered she was going to have a baby.

Somewhere in there was the straw that broke the camel's back, and Ben determined the best thing for him to do was move out. He got a hotel room close to the boarding house Ellie lived in and began making plans. He wrote to me and asked if there was enough land on the B Bar M to build him and the soon-to-be-Mrs. Maverick a small house. And asked me to see if the Little Bend school board was going to have an opening for a teacher anytime soon.

The idea of Ben moving back to Texas sent Pappy into fits of ecstasy. He'd been missin' his brother, just like I would, and was thrilled at the idea that Ben was coming back to the family. Of course, I turned the matter of another house over to Pauly and told him to start building. To Ben, I said, "Come home."

And that was just the goings on in Baton Rouge.

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	7. No More Tears

Niñita

Prologue

She was the youngest of five, and her name was actually Lily Elizabeth, or Lily Beth. But from the moment she was born, so very tiny at first, everyone called her Little Bit. Me included, but then I guess I have a right to. I'm her Pa, Bart Maverick.

She was a surprise, to all involved. Her momma and me already had four healthy, strong children, and Little Bit was an unexpected surprise. Momma's name is Doralice Donovan Maverick, and she's one of the most beautiful creatures God ever created, inside and out. Exquisite golden hair that shimmers and shines, and the craziest aqua-blue eyes you've ever seen.

Doralice is medium height; she just about comes up to my shoulders, with skin like fine porcelain and the greatest laugh ever heard on the planet. A good wind would blow her over, but she's strong as an ox, physically and morally. She's delicate and frail, yet she survived being drug across the Mexican desert in handcuffs and chains. There isn't a problem she can't solve, or a mountain she can't climb. And I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth, because she chose to love me with every fiber of her being.

Why that happened I have no idea, considering I kept her waiting for years while I roamed the countryside in search of . . . I never did understand what it was I was looking' for. Because everything I could ever have wanted was waiting for me right under my very nose. Fierce as a wildcat and gentle as a kitten, I could live with her for a hundred years and never know everything there was to know about her. We were like bottled lightning when we were together, and there was nothing on this earth that could keep us apart.

We made children like we made love, fierce and passionate, but by the time number four was born, we figured we'd run out our string. Our fifth child was so little we weren't even sure she was real until almost the last minute. Then we very nearly lost her to a breech birth in Indian territory with only me and her oldest sister to deliver her.

Once she'd announced her arrival into the world, her health was so precarious that I literally drove a team of our best cross-breeds into the ground to get her and her mother to a doctor. For almost a week we held our breath for every moment of every day, praying that God hadn't given us this precious gift just to turn around and take her away. And then, ever so slowly, a gifted doctor and what passed for modern medicine pulled both of them firmly into the land of the living. And Little Bit was our own true miracle.


	8. Tim

Chapter 2 – Number Six

Benny, Beau's oldest son, was spending his last year of school with us on the ranch, trying to decide if he wanted to go back to Baton Rouge or stay in the west. Spend five minutes with the boy and the choice was obvious – Benny had seen the last of Louisiana. As if that wasn't enough, Bret and me had been looking for someone, anyone, to sell us some Mexican Criollo horses for cross-breeding, and when we found some on the Texas/Mexican border, we planned a trip.

Just as we were getting ready to go, fever swept through the valley, and our trip was reduced from five participants to two. One of the two was my eleven-year-old daughter, Maude. We figured we could pick up some hands in El Paso, and we did. I've documented that story in a different place, titled _The Yellow Rose of Texas_.

By the time we got back from El Paso, we had more issues to deal with. Pauly had questions about Ben's house, and we all had an upcoming long-distance arrival and wedding to deal with. And we had three new ranch hands to train and get settled in, one of whom would eventually replace Cory Anderson as our breeding manager. Cory was a good man, but he never seemed to fit in the way Tim Demerest or, eventually, Lucien Walters did. We had a whole slew of new livestock to get settled and integrated into the herd, and two different cross-breeding programs to implement. And on top of that, I eventually thought that Maudie was cheating in school.

I don't mean to imply that the birth of another child falls somewhere after everything I've just listed, but you can understand why something could get lost among everything else. Especially after we'd decided to keep it under wraps for a while. I was well-aware that Doralice and me were going to be parents one last time, but I managed to forget the small fact that Doralice was a little older, and we'd had trouble when Lily Beth was born.

One by one the days passed and the tasks got accomplished. Ben's house was finished, our three new hands were trained and fell into line as employees, and the new cross-breeding programs got started. And then the joyous things began to occur . . . Ben and Ellie arrived from Baton Rouge, and Ellie Harris fit right in like she'd been part of the Maverick clan forever. The wedding was planned, then executed, and everyone at the ranch was thrilled that Ben had brought such a sweet soul into the family.

The whole valley was lucky. There were enough children in school this year that an extra teacher was actually needed, and Ellie Maverick fit the bill perfectly. She took the older group of kids, ten and up, and Maudie, Belle and Benny were fortunate enough to have her as their teacher. Maudie had always had a problem with arithmetic, and Ellie found a way around it. Maudie's grades even improved and, after a misunderstanding was corrected, I got my sweet, loving girl back.

Christmas passed, then the New Year, and Doralice got closer to having that last baby. We finally told the family right after New Year that she was expecting number six. Of course, the whole family was happy, especially Pappy. "Bartley, I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. And the thing that's most impressive is that you're good at it. You're runnin' two successful businesses, you built this place from the ground up, and you've got a beautiful wife that loves you. And those babies the two of you keep on makin' – those babies adore you. I want you to know how proud I am of you, son."

I was surprised and touched by the sentiments. "Not bad for the family screw-up, huh, Pappy? Let me tell you, I never expected to be raisin' five . . . almost six Maverick babies. I just hope I'm doin' right by 'em."

"You are, Bartley, you are. Whoever thought I'd end up with nine grandbabies? Wouldn't your momma be proud? And surprised!"

"And pleased, I hope. I've got one just like her, you know? Her namesake is her duplicate, and I mean that in the best way. Belle is everything momma would have wanted her to be. Quiet and sweet, always lookin' out for her brothers and sisters, tryin' to help us in any way she could. And they're all good kids, just in different ways. Every time I see Breton walking around holding Lily's hand and leading her everywhere so she's protected, I wonder how we got so lucky."

Still, it wasn't easy. We told the folks in town and got a mixture of congratulations and strange looks. Some of the people seemed to think there was something wrong with us, that we were still havin' babies at our age. Doralice and me decided that was their problem, and not ours. Soon enough we would have problems of our own.


	9. My Love

Chapter 4 – My Love

"Still . . . bleeding?"

This time I collapsed into the chair without encouragement of any kind. Bret sat down next to me, and Simon took a chair right across from us.

"Yes. I've been trying to stop it with no success."

"Is she awake?"

My brother and the doctor exchanged that look again. I wanted to know just what it meant. "She . . . she might not recognize you, Bart."

The remark that Simon had just made didn't penetrate my skull. "I don't care. I want to see her anyway."

"Alright."

The three of us made a procession into the house and back to the bedroom. Simon went in first, followed by me and flanked by Bret. Doralice lay in the middle of our bed, and she looked like she was just sleeping. My eye caught something in the corner of the room; it was a massive pile of sheets soaked through with blood. My wife's blood.

There was a chair next to the bed and I sat down in it. She didn't move, but I took one of her hands in mine and called to her. "Doralice . . . Doralice honey, it's Bart. You know, that crazy fella you married a while back. Can you hear me?" There was no sound and no movement. She was as pale as a ghost, and her hand was as cold as ice. "Do you hear me?"

My eyes traveled down the length of her body and saw the red stain on the sheet. I shuddered, and Simon was there suddenly, pulling me out of the chair. "Come on, Bart, we have to get her cleaned up again." He handed me off to Bret, who wrapped his arm around my shoulders and walked me out of the room. He leaned me up against a wall outside the bedroom and I listened to the noise inside. A low-grade moan sounded, and I knew it must be my blue-eyes; then I felt Bret's hands on my shoulders shaking me.

"Don't listen to it," he told me. "You can't listen to it; you've got to take care of that baby and pray for her."

I pulled away from him; I was in better shape than he thought I was. I stood in the hallway and waited to hear the door open again; when it did, I went straight back to the chair at her bedside. "Blue-eyes," I murmured, and she heard me. Her eyelids fluttered, and then those blue orbs opened and she tried a smile; within seconds she was asleep again. I glared up at Simon. "Can't you do something?" I demanded.

"We're doing all we can do, Bart. She needs to sleep, and I need to get the bleeding stopped."

"How long is that gonna take?" I asked, somewhat belligerently.

"I don't know, Bart. I just don't know."

XXXXXXXX

I'd fallen asleep in a chair in the living room, with the previously wiggling bundle in my arms. Around ten o'clock I heard a soft cry and woke up suddenly; the baby boy was looking for some food. Ginny took him from my arms and carried him into the bedroom; about fifteen minutes later she brought him back and handed him to me to burp. I took him, somewhat reluctantly, and he fixed me with a look from those brown eyes right before I laid him across my shoulder. They were my eyes, but they were momma's eyes lookin' at me, and as soon as he burped I had a conversation with him.

"Looks like you're stuck lookin' like me," I told him. "I've waited a long time for you, and you better live up to the way you look. You be good and behave for your momma and me, you gave her an awful bad time bein' born. She still don't feel good, so if you could cut her some slack that would be appreciated. Anything you wanna know?"

He kept right on lookin' at me and I couldn't decide if I was the best thing or the worst he'd ever seen. It was disconcerting to look down at the bundle I was holding and have somebody that looked like me lookin' back. He seemed quite content to lay in my arms, and wasn't the least upset or disturbed that it wasn't his momma holdin' him. "You don't wanna make this an everyday occurrence, bud. I've got too many four-legged beasties to raise."

"Hell of a way to talk to your flesh and blood," I heard Bret from across the room. "Mine don't look at me like that."

"I wouldn't look at you like that, either. You been awake all this time?"

He nodded. "Yeah, nothin' from Simon yet."

"He's still here?" I asked.

"Yep. You need anything? Food, water, coffee?"

I wasn't interested in any of that, but there was somethin' I needed. "Can you hold him for a minute? I need to do somethin'."

Bret came over and took the baby from me, then sat back down. "He is a little thing, ain't he?"

"We got hounds bigger than him. I'll be right back." I made my way outside, took care of my business, and came back in. Bret met me at the door.

"He woke up and was hungry again, so I sent him in with Ginny. She hasn't come back yet."

It was about fifteen minutes when Ginny came back, and I went through the burping routine again. Once I was finished, Ginny announced, "She's awake and she wants to see you."

"Any progress from Simon?"

Ginny shook her head and looked mournful. "None so far," was the answer I got. I soon found myself in the bedroom, and I was surprised to see my wife's eyes open. Nothing else had changed . . . she was still cold as ice, only now there was a slight blue tint to her lips. It almost matched her eyes, which were open and watching me.

"Doralice," I whispered, and she turned her head

"Right here," I told her and showed her the bundle I again held in my arms. She nodded and finally moved - reaching out carefully to brush some hair out of his eyes. "Do you want to hold him?"

She moved her head slightly, indicating 'no.' "Looks like you." Her eyes closed then, she'd done enough for one day.

"Should we go ahead with the name?" I wanted to catch her while she was awake, or at least coherent. We'd been talkin' for a long time about a habit that had developed with boys names in the family. All boys firsts names started with b and middle names began with j. We had an exception for that rule . . . we wanted to name him Tim Jacob Maverick. I promised I would run it by Doralice when he was born, and she'd just given us her final approval.

Ginny was still there, so I handed Tim to her and turned my entire attention to my wife. She was asleep again, and I sat down and held her hand. No change in temperature. Evidently Simon had managed to slow the bleeding down, because I was at her bedside for almost twenty minutes before he came and chased me out. "Simon?" I asked as he herded me out.

"Yes, Bart?"

"Any change?"

"The bleeding has slowed, but not stopped, I'm still working on it."

"Her lips are blue."

"I know, I'm trying to raise her temperature." Just as he said that Lily Mae walked in with an armload of blankets. I left the room quietly, with my little bundle in my arms. He was asleep again, just like his momma. I was praying that both would wake up soon.

XXXXXXXX

That day passed slowly, with Doralice sleeping most of it and me taking care of Tim. He was only eating about every two hours, and whenever someone came to see about Doralice, I got to show them Tim. I was proud of him, even if he was small. The only one that balked at the name was Maude, and she really was more confused than anything. "I thought them boys had to have an 'M' name," she asked.

"Traditionally they did, yeah, you're right. Doralice and me talked about this for months. I wanted to name him Tim, and she understood. So when he was born, we broke tradition. It's as simple as that."

When I told Bret he said, "Tim, huh?" with a raised eyebrow, but nothin' more. Pappy took it well, I thought.

"Tim. It's a good name. It fits him. Come to your grandpa, Tim. Let's let your daddy sit down for a while, huh?" Pappy talked to him, and walked with him; he even took him out on the front porch for a few minutes. When they came back in, Pappy told me, "He's real attentive when you take him outside. He likes all the bird's and the noise in the wind, and he likes to watch the squirrels. But he don't last long, that's for sure."

Bret helped me bring in the crib and put it by Dorilces' bedside the next time I got to go in. I laid Tim down in it and he kind of "oofed," and my beauty in the bed opened her eyes for a minute and reached down and touched him. "Beautiful boy," she murmured before she fell asleep again. Ginny was there to feed him, even though he hadn't cried, and I got to help. It didn't take much to fill him up, and I was right there to burp him. Doralice woke, and I put her son in her arms, and she smiled. Then he smiled at his momma. I know, it was probably gas, but I choose to think of it as a smile.

I went out to the kitchen to see everybody. Lucien had come up to the house to see if there was anything special I wanted, and Lily Mae was feeding him. I sat down with some coffee, and within two minutes I had eggs and bacon in front of me. I started to push it away and Lily said, "Eat, Mr. B. You're gonna need your strength for them two in there."

I knew better than to argue, so I put what she'd given me in my mouth and chewed it until it was small enough to swallow. I washed it down with the coffee and gallantly ate another bite, then pushed what was left away. I needed more coffee before I could answer my foreman. "Yeah, take Spreckles out of the barn and put him in the pasture with the quarter-horse mares. Other than that, just keep watch on our expectant girls. There's a couple ready to drop us a new foal any minute. And Baron . . . I'll take him out later. We both need to get out of here for a while."

Lucien nodded, then asked, "How's the misses? She doin' any better?"

I wanted to jump up and down and say 'Yes! Yes!' but I couldn't. "Not really. Doc Simon's still here, and he's tryin' to stop the blood loss . . . that's all I know."

"And the little fella?"

"He's doin' fine. Sleeps a lot. We named him Tim. Tim Jacob."

"After the Tim you lost?"

"How'd you know about that?" I was somewhat startled that he brought up Tim Demerest and seemed to know something about him.

"You know how guys in a bunkhouse are. Eventually everybody knows everything. Especially when it's that big of a loss. Hard to lose somebody like that. Even harder because he was so young and talented."

"That he was. Talented, I mean. He could make horses do things I ain't never seen. Ya know, I've seen you out there with those colts, especially the cross-breed Criollo. They respond faster to you than anybody. Keep up the good work, Lucien. There's good things happenin' in your future." I stood up and drained my coffee cup. "I gotta get back in there. See what's goin' on. I'll catch you later, when I come down to ride Baron."

"Sure thing, boss. I'll be around somewhere."

Lucien headed out the front door, and I followed him partway down the hallway. The bedroom door was closed, and I didn't know what that meant, so I sat in the living room and waited for someone to come out. They did, about ten minutes later. It was Simon, and he looked grim. "Stay there, Bart. I've something to tell you."

I've never seen Simon like that, so stern and forbidding. I tried to steel myself against what was coming. I couldn't begin to imagine what he was about to tell me.

"I thought we'd gotten the bleeding stopped, but it's started up again. She's hemorrhaging, Bart, and I can't do a damn thing to stop it. She's not gonna make it through this."

"Simon, are you telling me that Doralice is gonna die?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, Bart."


	10. Crash and Fall

Chapter 6 – Crash and Fall

It was a restless night, to say the least. I had dreams that I wouldn't want to repeat to anyone, and once again the old standard popped up – only this time it was Doralice that came in the front door and took Tenley's bullet. I could see the casket in the grave, and all the babies were there. We were in the Maverick graveyard.

That one woke me up, and it took a while for me to go back to sleep. I was determined to avoid facing the truth as long as possible, so I was not happy when I heard a familiar voice calling my name. The voice kept calling until I opened my eyes and looked up. It was Brother Bret, and he was sitting about ten feet away from me, next to the fire he'd made. "Coffee's on," he announced and began to pour a cup. "You want one?"

"Yes," I answered and crawled out from underneath the blanket. "Doralice?"

"Holding her own. How about you? How are you holdin' up?"

"As well as can be expected. How'd you find me?"

He chuckled as he handed me the steaming coffee. God, it smelled good. "I was a tracker in the army, remember?"

"I had to get out of there, Bret. I started thinkin', what if Simon was right? What if she was dyin'? And I couldn't stay there one more second. And I did what I usually do . . . I ran."

Bret sounded kind of subdued like he had somethin' to tell me but didn't want me to know. "Feel better this morning?"

"Yes and No. I don't know what to believe."

"Simon came back last night. Not too long after you left."

"He was probably glad that I'd gone."

"He wants you to come back."

By this time I'd gotten off the ground and started to resaddle Baron. At Bret's pronouncement, I turned around. "I'm comin' back, Bret. I just had to put some space between me and Simon's insistence that she was dyin', that's all."

Bret had put out the fire and waited for me to walk Baron over to where he stood before mounting. He still had an odd look on his face, and as I turned to say something to him, he grabbed me by the shoulders. "The family's sent for the minister, son."

"The minister?" My head was blank. "What for?"

"To perform last rites for her."

I heard the words, and that's all I heard. I didn't pass out, but the only thing holding me up was Bret's iron grip on my shoulders. My legs shook and I couldn't breathe. I thought I'd suffocate. "Tell me . . . tell me you're wrong. Tell me anything but that. Oh God, not that." And his grip finally gave way, and I sagged to the ground.

Before I knew what was happening, Bret was on the ground with me, his strong arms around me, and I was leaning into him and sobbing. Sobbing like one of my little girls. And I didn't care.

When a Maverick sends for a minister, there's only two reasons – to get married or to die. Gettin' married is self-explanatory; dyin' somethin' else. "Who sent for the minister, Bret?" Long minutes passed, and I still got no answer, so I asked again. "Who sent for the minister?"

His reply told all. "Pappy."

XXXXXXXX

Bret let me handle the realization that even Pappy believed Doralice was actually dying my own way. I sat up straight and wiped my nose on Bret's handkerchief, then turned to my brother. "I gotta go home. I might believe Simon but I ain't gonna let her go without a fight. And that means no last rights from the minister now."

Slowly I got to my feet, and Bret stood with me. "You alright now?"

"No, I'm not alright, but I'm not as upset as I was. I'm sure Pappy thinks he's doin' the right thing, but it's not his call to make. Has she gotten worse since I left?"

"Not according to Simon. She's the same as she was when the Reverend had a big pow-wow with Pa, and this is the decision that came out of it."

"And they waited until I was gone to pursue it."

"Don't be too hard on him, Bart, he was only tryin' to do what he thought would hurt you the least."

I shook my head. "I know. But I don't care how much it hurts me, I'll fight it to the last breath. Let's go home and see if anything has changed. " I nudged Baron forward with my heels and we took off for home. Bret quickly followed.

XXXXXXXX

By the time we got home, it was almost mid-morning, and there was no sign of the reverend's buggy.

I left Baron with Bret and hurried inside. I don't think I've ever heard the house that still. I slipped down the hall quietly and into the bedroom. She lay there, still in the middle of the bed, looking just as she had when I left yesterday. So peaceful, just as beautiful as the day I first saw her, I couldn't believe this woman was dying. And deep down, I still didn't.

I sat in the chair next to the bed and watched her breathe. I must have been there twenty or thirty minutes before I heard the horse outside. That must be the reverend. I steeled myself for the confrontation that was coming.

It took another ten minutes before the door opened. Reverend Miller walked in with Pappy and Maude. I stood and moved the chair out of the way, then stood my ground. I was surprised when I heard the door on the other side of the room open, and I turned my head to see who was coming in. It was Bret. It looked like Big Brother had come to offer me support. My head swiveled back toward the front door. "Reverend Miller. Pappy. Maude."

"I suppose you know why we're here, Bartley."

"I do, Pappy. You want the reverend here to give Doralice, my wife, last rites. Is that about it?"

Maude spoke up. "It's what she would want, Bart. It's what I want."

"Bullshit, Maude. Sorry, Reverend. It may be what you want, but it would never be what Dorsalice wants. You didn't see her down in Mexico, when she was full of filth, in chains and with welts and sores all over her. I never saw anybody that wanted to live as much as she did. And she's not givin' up now. She'd fight to the last breath to stay alive, and since she can't tell you that herself, I'm tellin' you for her. There'll be no last rites given here tonight, or any other night, as long as there's breath in her body. I'm sorry they got you out here for nothin', Reverend, but that's the way it is."

Pappy turned to Reverend Miller and started to say something; the Reverend stopped him."No, Beauregard, he's right. She's his wife. It's up to him to make the decision. I'm sorry, Bartley if my coming out here has caused you any upset or distress. When you are ready to see me, send somebody for me."

The minister turned and left the bedroom, never looking back. Pappy said no more; neither did Maude, and they left the room in an awful hurry.

"I see you didn't need me, little brother," Bret's voice echoed thru the room.

"No, but I was sure glad to know you were there," I answered.

"What do we do now?"

"We wait."


	11. Wishin' and Hopin'

Chapter 7 – Wishin' and Hopin'

And so we waited. And waited. And waited. After three days of waiting, I was about as exhausted as you could be every which way possible – physically, mentally and emotionally. About the only thing I had the energy left to do was get dressed and lay by Doralice's bed.

On the fourth day, Bret came to the conclusion that I needed to get up, get cleaned up, and change clothes. I agreed with him. As he started to help me up off the floor, I thought I heard something. I didn't know what, but it was something. He got me to my feet, and we stood there and waited. And I heard it again.

"Don't you hear that, Bret?"

"Nope, Bart, I don't hear a thing."

Now, men ain't supposed to have the greatest hearing in the world, and I know mine's no better than Bret's, but, by God, I heard something. Later on we figured out why I heard it and he didn't, but for now, let's just let it lie. I heard it again and again and again. And then, like an answer from God above, I knew what It was. The sound of someone taking a breath. And there was only one person it could be. Doralice.

For days on end she'd been drawing breath so shallow that you couldn't hear her. But she'd begun to breathe deeper, and I heard her. "Go wake up Simon. Doralice's breathin'."

"You're serious?"

"One hundred percent."

Bret went tearing out of the room and in what seemed like mere seconds, returned, with Simon trailing after him. Simon had his stethoscope with him, and he placed it gently on my beauty's chest. He moved it around to two or three different places, then removed it, and oh so gently placed his ear on her chest. When he was done with that, he stepped back from the bed and got eye-level with her chest. When he finally stood up he looked at me and smiled. "You were right, Bart, it was her breathing. I don't know how, but her heart sounds stronger, too."

"What does that mean, Simon?

"It might not mean a lot, but it could mean she's getting stronger. And if she's getting stronger, then she's got a chance. The next two or three days are gonna be critical. Somebody needs to be with her all the time. I'm gonna go home and get cleaned up, and then I'll be back and I'll recheck her. You're right, Bart; you've been right all along. She's a lot stronger than we gave her credit for being."

I wish I could say that was the end of it; that Doralice was miraculously cured and we had nothin' further to worry about. But, of course, that's not how life goes. Simon left to get cleaned up and Bret went home to his own family. I'm the one that sent him home; he'd spent enough time baby-sittin' me. Speaking of gettin' cleaned up, I asked Lily Mae to sit with Doralice a while so I could wash the

outdoor stink off me and change into clean clothes. I hurried, scared that I would find things had changed back to the way they were before I could see her breathin'. They hadn't; and when Lily Mae went back to the kitchen I asked her to fix me something to eat. I couldn't remember when I'd last had a meal.

In just a few short minutes Lily brought me a plate of eggs, potatoes and bacon, with toast on the side, and a tall mug of coffee. I wolfed it down like there was no tomorrow and cleaned the plate, and I wish you could have seen the smile I got when Lily came back for the dishes. She'd just picked up the plates when Doralice coughed, a petite little sound, but it made both of us jump when we heard it. It was the first time she'd made any kind of sound other than breathing, and we were both thrilled.

Soon after that Simon returned and began his re-examination. When he was finished he asked me to come into the hall with him so we could talk. Lily Mae came back in to sit with blue-eyes.

"She's definitely getting stronger," he pronounced. "That does not mean that she's anywhere near well, or even well-enough at this point. She has improved, and I would imagine that if she keeps going at this pace she should regain consciousness some time in the next several days. You're gonna have a long haul ahead of you, Bart. It's gonna be quite a while before she is strong enough to be the woman she was before . . . if she ever is. We just have to wait and see. Be patient. She's going to be as frustrated as you are. But she's alive, and that's something I never expected. You got a miracle, my friend; don't ever take it for granted. I'll be by this evening to see how she's doing."

And with that, Simon was gone.

XXXXXXXX

For the next few days that's the way it went. Simon came, examined Doralice, had a cup of coffee while we chatted, and came by for a few minutes in the evening to see if there was any change. And then, one morning, he pulled me aside. "There's something going on in her chest. I'm not sure what, but there's sounds we didn't have before, including a stronger heartbeat. And her breathing isn't as shallow as it was. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to get here one morning and find her talking to you. Let's hope that's what happens."

And it did. Not quite that way, but close. I was sittin' by her bed and I'd fallen asleep. I woke up when I heard Simon and I looked over where she lay . . . and her eyes were open. She wasn't moving and I was afraid to say anything. I checked and she was breathing, and I quietly called her. "Doralice. Doralice honey, it's Bart. Can you hear me?"

Her head turned ever slightly towards me and she blinked. I'll never forget that for the rest of my life. Right about then Simon arrived and I was whoopin' and hollerin' all the way to the door to greet him.I think I kissed him, in my excitement. I know I was babbling like a crazy man – how he ever figured out what I was tryin' to tell him, I'll never know. But he did, and he followed me back to the bed, where he ran a very thorough exam of my beloved. And when he was finished, he announced that not only was she awake, but her heart sounded better than it had for days on end.

I'd made so much noise when I first saw her eyes that the twins and Beauregard came running. They were the only ones up, and they were afraid that their momma had didn't take them long to wake everybody in the house up, and they were all there gawking over the bed at my angel.

I brought her some water, because I knew she was gonna need it. As soon as she'd had enough I waited to see how fast she would ask for Tim. It didn't take too long before I heard the question, "My baby?" It was barely a whisper, but I knew exactly what she meant, and brought him to her. That was the most beautiful sight I'd seen, with her suckling him surrounded by our five other babies. I went out back in the tall grass and got down on my knees and thanked God for the miracle he'd given us. I figured right then I must be the luckiest man alive.


	12. Normal

Chapter 8 – Normal

Simon had been right when he told me it was gonna be a long haul with Doralice. It was a good month before she was strong enough to get outta that bed, and then all she could do for another month was sit in the chair. It didn't matter to me, my angel was alive and gettin' stronger every day, although not as fast as either of us would have liked.

The twins took turns taking care of time, and they adored him. The feeling was mutual. You should have seen the way he giggled and cooed when either of them had him; Doralice was sure that Tim was their baby, but she let them play momma to him. Tim knew who his momma was.

It was Beauregard that had the biggest problem with his new baby brother. He thought it was Tim that almost killed Doralice, and it took a good long while before he forgave the baby. Eventually, even Beauregard fell into line and realized it wasn't Tim's fault.

By the time Tim took his first step things were almost back to normal. God willing, they would stay that way.

The End

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